Elementary Enrollment Discussed at BOE Meeting

At Wednesday’s Sachem Central School District Board of Education meeting, district administrators recommended opening up sections at certain elementary schools that are over district enrollment guidelines.

According to Dr. Jill Karp, assistant superintendent for elementary curriculum and instruction at Sachem, five sections of elementary schools are over guidelines, including one kindergarten at Merrimac, one first grade at Lynwood, one second grade at Chippewa, one third grade at Wenonah and one fourth grade at Waverly Avenue.

District administrators will meet with building principals on Monday to discuss this further.

“At this point my recommendation to the board would be, in discussion with the superintendent, to open up the sections that are still remaining over board guidelines and leave the rest of the sections as is,” Karp told the board during Wednesday’s meeting held at Samoset Middle School. “Most of these classes are significantly over, they’re not slightly over.”

A significant number of teachers were excessed from the school district following the 2010-11 school year. The district did not release the current enrollment figures during the meeting.

District officials can not directly comment on personnel matters until they become officially voted on by the board of education, so further details on the situation will be reported on when possible. 

District sets 2011-12 goals

The school district currently has six goals they’ll continue to strive for left over from the 2010-11 school year. New to the list at No. 7 is “to provide staff members with the necessary tools to provide students with the highest quality education.”

The other exisiting goals are:

• Provide safe and secure schools
• Enhance student achievement, quality of instruction and leadership skills
• Improve parent, community and staff communication
• Improve fiscal responsibility and accountability throughout the district
• Technology integration
• We Are Sachem

In other district news, the board approved a change order to increase an existing contract with New York Insulation, Inc. by $64,000 to remove 4,100 square feet of asbestos containing material ceiling tile and wipe down of ceiling grid at the Walter C. Dunham Administration Building on Union Avenue in Holbrook. The contract is now for $234,560. 

The board also approved a $12,935 purchase of Option software to configure their Pentamation Human Resource system to email direct deposit vouchers to employees.

The next board of education meeting will be a work session held Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the usual spot at the administrative annex of Samoset.

Stay tuned to Sachem Patch for stories about recent ELA/Math test score grades and a credit rating deal the district was involved with.